thinking

[graham enzk]

so there i was thinking of something and then i started thinking about the process of thinking and how for me it's like talking to myself inside my head in english.
then i started wondering how someone with no spoken language thinks, i.e. someone who is totally deaf and has never heard a word spoken, do they think in pictures? how about somone who is deaf and blind? how about babies? how about animals?









i am very busy at work right now.

[RealR]

I've always wondered about that one too. Surely they can't miss that form of thought. Maybe they just skip it and can think quicker and better.

Another one is visualising for blind people.

[DissolveD_JameS]

Uh oh....

I stayed up for like 408508 hours one night (impressive, I know) talking about this.

And I know have what is known as "the fear" that it's about to happen again... but this time I'm going to have to type it all out.

Shiiittt.

[Dj-Zero]

I have had this discussion with my fiance about my daughter a lot, I mean, she doesn't know words, so when she's hungry, she doesn't think "I'm hungry" so does she just think of what she thinks a bottle looks like? This is a good topic!

[Abi]

I always thought it was weird when I was little how foreign kids would be thinking about the same stuff as me, but in an entirely different language.

Now I do languages, I sometimes automatically think in Spanish, but it's a different kind of thinking to the way I think in English. It's like having a spanish conversation in my head, but I see words and accompanying pictures in my head as well.

[Abi]

Originally Posted by Dj-Zero

I have had this discussion with my fiance about my daughter a lot, I mean, she doesn't know words, so when she's hungry, she doesn't think "I'm hungry" so does she just think of what she thinks a bottle looks like? This is a good topic!

Is it not just more like an urge? Like she feels uncomfortable because she's hungry, so she just cries until someone fixes it for her?

[Baz]

its really wierd this one. i tend to think with a combination of pictures and words, but all these pictures and words must come from somewhere - namely, your memory. which throws up another angle; how do people with very limited memorys form thoughts?

i guess with every individual case your brain will adapt over time and get used to the way you think and make descisions.

[TheSombreroKid]

if you think of english like an interface to the mind it seems natural for you to think that thoughts are carried out in english, but the thing is that the thoughts are carried out regardless the english language is just a way of interpreting the thoughts, the thoughts would be there anyway (Languge is an interface to the mind, like KDE or Gnome for linux for example)

but when it comes to recrding memory of these thoughts because of the relational and patern matching nature of the brain it's hard for the brain to acuratly record thoughts & events without some sort of referancing interface, so if you think something is "surprising" for example without a word to record and relate it to that you can constantly refer to, when rememberin the tthought the information will become irrelevant, there will be no frame of referance and thats why we don't remember very much thoughts and events until we develope linguistic skills, seeing as thoughts and events are stored in an area of the brain where Memories are constructed by almost lexical interpreters, which isn't true for skills like maths & reading & walking

at least thats what i think

[evilheartedyou]

sometimes I think in chinese even tho I'm going to be speaking in english and it really muddles up my sentence structure so I end up talking like Yoda :/

[kaleidoscope]

I thought i was the only one who thought in words! i thought maybe that made me wierd and that i was talking to myself so i never told anyone... i feel so relieved now...
Also, i try sometimes and think NOT in words... and i cant do it... its wierd. and do dogs think in woofs?

and what do fish think in?

and wouldnt it be weird being someone else for a day and thinking in their voice...

crazy.

[graham enzk]

Originally Posted by kaleidoscope

and what do fish think in?

the water

[kaleidoscope]

what if they get washed up?

eh?

[DissolveD_JameS]

I don't think anyone thinks exclusively in words... that's just silly. IMO the majority of thoughts we have are subconscious, data being transported back and forward across the different areas of the brain uber-fast. It's only the important stuff that registers with you're conscious thought (a kind of bio-electronic cross-referencing if you will) - your brain will then translate the impulses that are necessary into words which then get stored in your memory.

[kaleidoscope]

Yeah i reckon people just think in words out of habit... but its too hard to stop now...

do blind people think in brail??? Its totaly wierd